Interior design, amongst all of the design trades, is perhaps the most reliant on the inspiration of the individual.

It is also arguably the most subjective. 

Whether you're searching for some inspiration to begin a new project or are in need of some wisdom from some of the greats, we've compiled a selection of the most popular interior design quotes from around the internet.

Have a favorite interior design quote that you don't see listed here? Let us know in the comments!

Top 10 Inspirational Interior Design Quotes to Elevate Your Space

Here are ten frequently cited quotes from interior design publications and websites, presented in no particular order.

1. "The details are not the details. They make the design."

– Charles Eames

2. "Form follows function - that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union."

– Frank Lloyd Wright

3. "I always put in one controversial item. It makes people talk."

– Dorothy Draper

4. “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Design is knowing which ones to keep.”

– Scott Adams

5. "Thinking about design is hard, but not thinking about it can be disastrous."

– Ralph Caplan

6. "Design is so simple. That's why it's so complicated."

– Paul Rand

7. “Rawness and refinement are not opposite ends of a luxurious spectrum. They are two complementary features with which to populate a luxe environment.”

– Kelly Weartsler

8. "Everything is designed. Few things are designed well."

– Brian Reed

9. “If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”

– William Morris

10. "Real comfort, visual and physical, is vital to every room."

– Mark Hampton

 

 

 

 

More Interior Design Wisdom: Timeless Quotes from Famous Designers

Below is a list of interior design quotes that are slightly less quoted than the top ten listed above. This, of course, by no means makes them any less profound. They are listed in no particular order.

Looking for more inspiration? Take a look at our list of top architecture quotes next.

 

11. "Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."

– Steve Jobs

12. "Luxury is when it seems flawless, when you reach the right balance between all elements. Understated theatrically - that is what my luxury is all about."

– Jean-Louis Deniot

13. "The essence of interior design will always be about people and how they live. It is about the realities of what makes for an attractive, civilized, meaningful environment, not about fashion or what's in or what's out. This is not an easy job."

– Albert Hadley

14. "Be faithful to your own taste, because nothing you really like is ever out of style."

– Billy Baldwin

15. "A design isn't finished until someone is using it."

– Brenda Laurel

16. "When something feels off, it is."

– Abraham Hicks

17. "Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful."

– John Maeda

18. "The best way to accomplish serious design...is to be totally and completely unqualified for the job.

– Paula Scher

19. "The best rooms have something to say about the people who live in them."

– David Hicks

20. "There are two things that make a room timeless: a sense of history and a piece of the future."

– Charlotte Moss

21. "Architecture is really about well-being. I think that people want to feel good in a space."

– Zaha Hadid

22. "I like an interior that defies labeling. I don't really want someone to walk into a room and know that I did it."

– Bunny Williams

23. "A room should never allow the eye to settle in one place. It should smile at you and create fantasy."

– Juan Montoya

24. “Good design doesn’t date.”

– Harry Seidler

25. “A room is not a room without natural light.”

– Louis Kahn

26. “No pattern should be without some sort of meaning.”

– William Morris

27. “Interior decoration partly thrives on being social.”

– Nicholas Haslam

28. “One should never be the oldest thing in one’s house.”

– Patsy Stone

29. “Every room needs a touch of black, just as it needs one antique piece.”

– Jan Showers

30. “I am going to make everything around me beautiful—that will be my life.”

– Elsie De Wolfe

31. “Underneath all I design lies the solid belief that beauty is a positive force.”

– Barbara Barry

32. “Good buildings come from good people and all problems are solved by good design.”

– Stephen Gardiner

33. “Chandeliers are the marvels of drop-dead showiness, the jewelry of architecture.”

– Peter York

34. "Trendy comes right before tacky."

– Karl Lagerfeld

35. "If you love something, it will work. That's the only real rule."

– Bunny Williams

36. "The home should be the treasure chest of living."

– Le Corbusier

 

 

37. "I've never seen elegance go out of style."

– Sonia Teclai

38. “A house is much more than a mere shelter—it should lift us emotionally and spiritually.”

– John Saldino

39. “Another word for minimalism is ‘elegance.’ Elegance is beautifully resolving an issue with minimal means.”

– Tom Kundig

40. “For a house to be successful, the objects in it must communicate with one another, respond and balance one another.”

– Andrée Putman

41. "The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt."

– Sylvia Plath

42. “Furniture is needed for practical reasons, and because it must be there, it may as well be as pleasant as possible to look at, and in a less definable psychological way, comforting to the spirit.”

– Edward J Wormley

43. "Style is a way to say who you are without having to speak."

– Rachel Zoe

44. “What is quality? Quality design must have a sense of authenticity. My work is not cutting edge, it is not supposed to be, but sometimes, the middle of the road is the most dangerous place to walk.”

– David Collins

45. “The essence of interior design will always be about people and how they live. It is about the realities of what makes for an attractive, civilized, meaningful environment, not about fashion or what’s in or what’s out. This is not an easy job.”

– Albert Hadley

46. "Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent."

– Joe Sparano

47. "Design is thinking made visual."

– Saul Bass

48. "There are three responses to a piece of design – yes, no, and WOW! Wow is the one to aim for."

– Milton Glaser

49. "The goal of design is to raise the expectation of what design can be."

– Paula Scher

50. "Design is about making people happy, either functionally, aesthetically, or emotionally."

– Robin Siegerman

 

Now that you've made it this far, what's your favorite inspirational quote? 

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